The marketers spend a lot of money for social media marketing and other marketing methods. It is difficult to arrive at the total cost involved in all type of marketing activities, for estimating the total ROI. However, the cost involved in traditional marketing is less, the companies still need to spend on social media marketing as the activities on social media sites are a continuous process. Following are 5 must follow tips for higher returns from social media marketing.

1. Include Proactive Campaigns In Social Media Mix:

Earlier, social media marketing was primarily used for promoting products and to create brand awareness. Now the scenario has changed and in addition to sales, social media serves many functions which include public relations, market research, complaint handling, service& support, and direct marketing.Through Facebook, companies engage their fans and persuade them to buy their products and services online.

2. Find The Best Engagement To Sales Pitch Ratio:

Social media marketers heavily depend upon Facebook and Twitter channels to promote their products and services. So, what is important in social media marketing? Is engaging with fans and customers important or making sales?

Social media is the perfect platform to engage with fans and customers. With the help of social media, marketeers can improve audience engagement and create brand awareness. However, companies are now using social media sites not just for engaging with customers, but also for increasing sales and revenues. For example, SuperHeroStuff.com publishes four posts everyday day, in order to, focus on the engagement with fans online. In 2012, the company started posting four additional posts to promote some of their specific products online. With the new addition of posts, company achieved 150 % increase in the revenue during the period.

Now the question is what percentage of posts should be focused for engagement and for promoting product and services? Like any traditional sales process, sales on social media sites requires a lot of pitching to convert prospects into customers. However, marketers should not engage in over pitching activities, since it is often considered as a big turn off for many and could have an adverse affect on the business. There is a need to develop interest in the minds of prospects by focusing more on customer activities, goals and spending less time on the sales pitch.

A good salesperson in the real world spends 10% of the time on soft pitching and 90% of the time discussing about the customer requirements, activities and goals. This ratio may not work for all companies and may vary based on the kind of businesses and products offered. For example, SuperHeroStuff.com follows a 50-50 ratio. This ratio works well for their business because many of their customers are fond of the type of products offered by this company. Hence, it is advisable to test company’s own offerings, levels of engagement required and audience interests, so as to identify what ratio will work best for the business.

3. Identify The Social Channels That Are Best Suited For A Campaign:

Now is the time to decide which social networks are the best for a campaign to get maximum coverage and benefits. The social media marketer chooses the most appropriate social networks based on many factors which include the target audience, goals, and matters related to the website characteristics.

One may find it difficult to compare the popularity of different social channels. However, by tracking page views and time stamp on each social media site, anyone can gauge the kind of traffic and interactions which a campaign could get from sites.

The first step is to look for social media channels based on popularity. For example, Facebook has the highest number of active users, about 1.1 billion which is much more than Twitter (500 million), though a large portion of Twitter usage is not on the website. This is why, Facebook is still considered the most popular amongst all social media sites as it commands 8% of the total page views on the internet.

The second step is to look for the channels based on the marketing space, the product falls in. Does the product fall under B2C or B2B category? Facebook is the perfect choice for B2C social marketing, whereas LinkedIn and Twitter are ideal choices for B2B social marketing. In case of B2B social marketing, it is highly recommended to use a combination of search engine advertising, Facebook page posts, Facebook ads, LinkedIn advertising and LinkedIn group creation. Thus, marketeers need to work on a combination of these channels and choose the best social marketing mix that are best suited for the business.

The third step is to use YouTube. Using videos in a social media campaign can actually boost the popularity and engagement level. Pinterest is an another choice to fetch better exposure amongst 25-54 aged female demographically.

Besides all these popular networks, there are many other small social sites available. It may not be possible to use all the channels, therefore, one needs to focus on the most effective channels and prioritize things, keeping in mind the campaign objectives. Ideally, one needs to choose a mix of channels that matches the requirements of the business in every sense.

4. Use Content Marketing To Engage And Persuade Fans.

Content is the king. Thus, content marketing is the best way to get unique stature online. Content differentiates social media from social networking. Realizing this fact, more and more companies began publishing content online. One should create unique content more often and stay committed to it. Also, review the content marketing strategy periodically and make improvements as and when required.

5. Keep Social Media Employees On Track.

For any social media campaign to be a success, the team behind that campaign should be well equipped with the information about what works best and what works the least for the company. Following are the points worth considering to keep social media staffs on track:

All the team members should be well versed with major social channels.

Media team members should analyze their work online and find out 20% of the most effective and 80% of least effective activities carried out online.

Each media team member should be clear about the team goals and progress towards achieving its goal.